Internal-combustion engine



April .13 1926. 1,580,249

D. H. HORNOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGI NE Filed Sept- 8, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet l Al /M;

TTORNE ,9?

A ril 13 1926. 1,580,249

D. H. HORNOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed P 8, 1921 s Sheets-Sheet 2 %%7( V 5N TOR.

April 13 1926.

D. H. HQRNOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed pt. 8, 1921 i 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 April 13,1926. 1,580,249

D. H. HORNOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE File p 8, 1921 .5 Sh eets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. 051 MM AT TDRNEYX- April ,13 1926.

D. H. HQRNOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 8,, 1921 A TTORNEYX Patented Apr. 13, 1926.

UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAYTON II. 3031703, 0] DUN SIUIB, CALIFORNIA.

INT EQNAL-COHBUSTION ENGINE.

a nmio ma September a, 1921". Serial at. 499340.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAYTON H. Humor, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Dunsmuir, in the county of Siskiyou and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion'Engines, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to internal combustion engines, and one of the principal objects is to provide in an' internal combustion en gine, improved means for imparting the power impulses from the reciprocating pistons to a 'rotatin power sha t without the necessity of provldingthe ofi-set connecting rod pins, such as are emplo ed on ordinary crank shafts as used in ot er well known types of engines. 7

Another object is to provide an improved design of internal combustion engine wherein the various" cooperating elements are caused to function so that the power impulses from any even number of cylinders, 16 or less, may be imparted to a straight power shaft of the character mentioned, and whereby the relation of the various elements may be changed from low compression to medium or high compression by the change of but one small and readily accessible part for an engine of eight cylinders or less, or by the change of but two parts for an engine of sixteen cylinders, thus ada ting the engine to the use of fuels of di erent characteristics and requiring difl'erent compression, and also to different ignition systems.

A further object of the invention is to provide an engine which is so designed, and

in which the several 'parts are so relatedas to provide a double acting engine in which the power impulses. are. applied at opposite.

ends of the cylinders, and in which the necessity for stufling boxes or cross heads is entirely obviated. This construction serves to simplify the engine to a large extent, re-" duce the number of parts, and-increase its efiiciency.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an engine of improved and simple design, whereby the assembly and disassembly of the several'parts may be facilitated, and to so relate the various parts as to efiect a marked reduction of the total weight of an engine, of given power, thus reducing the cost of manufacture to a minimum and increasing the efliciency of operation.v

Other minor and detailed objects may appear as the description progresses.

' I attain these several objects of m invention by means for the mechanism s own in the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated two separate designs of engine embodying substantially the same principle,

one of said designs being of the horizontal type and the other of the vertical type.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the horizontal type engine.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same, partly in section.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the same on line 3-3-of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a' perspective view of a double piston for. one of the cylinders, showing a crank arm connected therewith.

fFig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the connecting members for 'slidabl'y" connecting without changing the S00 e of my invention or departing from the s i'rit thereof.

Similar characters 0 reference are employed throughout the specification and in the drawings for illustrating. similar or like parts except in Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9, where other characters are used.

I will first describe the horizontal type of engine, shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive. In this type of engine I have shown four cylinders C, C, C, and C, arranged in pairs the cylinders C and C being respectively mounted above the cylinders C and 0 Each of the cylindershas a circular inner I wall 1, and an outer jacket 2, between which is provided a water chamber 3 which is closed by end walls 4. Said cylinders also have separable heads H and H at opposite ends thereof, which have inner walls 5 and outer walls 6, with water chambers 7 therein adapted for communication with the chambers 3 of the cylinders proper.

The cylinders c and o and cylinders o and C are paired and cast in a single block and the blocks are connected at a central the cylinders may be .elfected from the top,

for any desired purpose.

The pistons P are of the same design and character for each of the several cyl1nders,.

and each includes a circular ring carryin portion 12, on the opposite ends thereo having grooves for receiving a plurality of rings 13, 13, etc., and an intermediate circular portion 14. It will be noted that the pistons are of elongated form, and that the opposite ends are of similar character and slze, and the pistons are so disposed in the cylinders as to'receive power impulses from opposite ends of the cylinder when directed against the piston heads let.

The central portions 14 of said pistons are provided with vertically disposed elongated slots 15, open on diametrically opposite portions'of the piston, and also a pair of transversely disposed grooves 16 substantially midway of the ends of the pistons and communicating at their open ends with the slots 15. Centrally mounted between the pairs of cylinders C, C and C C, I provide transverse horizontally disposed-andalined rock shafts S and S respectively, which extend through the chambers 9 of the connection portions 8, between the cylinders of each pair and are journaledat their ends in bearings 17 and 18 in the cylinder block. On the shafts S and S in each cylinder unit, I provide an oscillating lever L which has a pair of like and oppositely disposed arms 19 and 20, one of which extends upwardly, and the other downwardly from the hub of the lever. In the ends of said lever arms I provide bearings 21 which carry bearing members 22 having tongues 23, 23, formed in alinement on opposite faces thereof, and adapted to seat in and slidably engage the grooves 16 formed on opposite sides of the longitudinal groove 15 in the pistons P.

Centrally mounted between the ends of the cylinders and below either of the lower cylinders C and C I provide a straight transverse power shaft S which is mounted in a split bearing B on the lower portion of the cylinder.

The shaft S may have a fly wheel W mounted on the extended end thereof, at one end of the bearing B, and the other end of said shaft is provided with a crank arm A which is somewhat similar, but slightly shorter than the crank arm A on the correspondingly extended end of the rock shaft S, by means of a connecting rod R. Arm A carries a pin 1', which is plvotallyheld on the lower end of the connecting rod R, and the lower end 6' of arm A carries a pin a which is pivotally connected with the'upper end of the connecting rod R.

Likewise, the inner end of shaft S carries a crank arm A, similar to the arm A on the shaft S, and the lower end 0 of said arm is pivotally held on a pin a which pivotally supports the upper end of the connecting rod R, while the "lower end of said connecting rod is ivotally held on the pin r of the arm A. t the opposite ends of the cylinder blocks I provide cam shafts S and S which may be operated from the shaft S by means of sprocket chains or belts C, C, adapted to operate over driven sprockets S, S, on the shafts S and S, and over driving sprockets S, S on the shaft S The cam shafts S and S are carried in hearing brackets 25 attached to the cylinder heads H, H, and H, H, and said shafts are disposed in a horizontal plane and extend transversely over and between the upper and lower cylinders of each pair.

The opposite heads of all of the cylinders are similar and each have intake and exhaust valves, as at V. Said valves have stems 26 which are slidably held in bosses 27 in the center of the heads, and carry springs 28 on their outer ends which compress between the usual collars 29 and the ends of the cylinder heads.

Each of said valves has an associated rocker arm'30, one end 31 of which engages the valve stems 26 for compressing the springs 28 and opening the valves V, and the other ends 32 of which engage and are actuated by cams 33 on the shafts S or S, as the case may be. Said rocker arms have central portions 34 which are mounted on horizontal'ro'ckcr arm shafts 35 supported in bearings 36 formed on orattached to the cylinder heads. The heads H have compression chambers 37 in the ends thereof which communicate with intake and exhaust passages 38, formed outwardly of the valve seats, and suitable ports 39 are provided in the heads for affording communication between the chambers 38 and intake and exhaust manifolds M and M respectively. the particular a rangement of these intake and exhaust passages being immaterial to my invention.

The operation of the horizontal type engine is as follows: As the fuel is admitted to the heads H and H through the valves V by the operation of the cam shafts S and S, which serve to open and close the valves, the successive charges of fuel are thereafter compressed at one end of said cylinder, while the piston P induces a charge of fuel at the opposite end of the cylinder'. The return stroke'oi the piston, which open and communicate. w th a crank case is a power stroke, on one end of the cylin- 41 common to all of the cylinders, and deder, compresses the charge of gas at the tachably held on the lower end of the cylinother end, and the succeeding stroke of the deer blocks, as shown particularly in Fig. 6.

piston exhausts at the first end on the power Heads H, H, etc., are also provided on the 70 stroke at the other end. The firing of the upper end of said cylinders and are decylinder through the medium of spark plugs tachably held thereon by suitable means, may be timed as in all other types of four and are of substantially the same design cycle engines, so-as to maintain a proper as in the horizontal type of engine, prebalance and a maximum power ratio. viously described. Said heads have water As shownparticularly in Fig. 1 the pisportions 42 formed between the inner walls tons in the cylinders of each pair move at 43 and outer walls 44 of the heads and the all times in opposite directions, and in a intake and exhaust valves V, V, etc., and four cylinder unit of the double acting mounted so as to seatcentrally in the inner type, such as I have shown and described, walls 43 on heads, and have the valve stems. it will beapparent that I have provided 26 thereon which extend upwardly through means for producing four power impulses the central hollow portions 38, as in to each revolution of the power shaft. This horizontal type of engine. action is accomplished by means of the os- The cylinders in this type of engine ref, cillating levers L connected with the pis- 'ceive the charges of fuel only at their uptons P in the manner described, and the per ends, as in the ordinary type of four correspondin rotation of the power shaft cycle engines, and the pistons P, P, move S efl'ected tlirough the connection of the vertically in said cylinders. The rock shaft connecting rods R and R and the crank 40 at the bottom of the cylinders is subarms A, A and A. stantially journaled in the connecting por- It will be noted in this regard that the tion 45 of each cylinder pair, and carries arms A and A? are substantially longer a crank D with arms 46 and 46' extended than arm'A, and that the first mentioned at equal distances on each side of the axis arms oscillate to a sufficient extent to eflect of said shaft. Said arms as shown in Fig. a complete revolution of the arm A and the 9 are connected with depending portions associated shaft 6. i 47 and are 'slidably held in slots 47 formed For instance, referring to Fig. 3, assumtherein, paralleling the axis of the pistons. ing that the arm A has not yet reached Transverse grooves 48 are also formed in 'its extreme of movement in a clockwise dithe portions 47 and communicate with the 100 rection, and the arm A is moving in a grooves 47 for, the reception of tongues 23 reverse direction, while the arm A is rotat-- formed on the bearing members 22, such as ing in a clock-wise direction. The further shown in Fig. 4 of the horizontal type movement of the arm A in the direction engine. n stated will serve to turn the arm- A in a Thus, it will be seen that as the pistons 105 clockwise direction, while the further move- P,.P, are moved vertically in the cylinders, ment of the arm A in a reverse direction the crank arms D of each pair will be oscilwill be correspondingly moved and will serv lated correspondingly to the vertical move to move the arm A 'over the-center, until the ment of the pistons, and the tongues 23 of 4? upper extreme of movement of arm A is the swivel members will slide transversely in no reached, when the reverse condition will be the grooves 48 of the portions 47 of the true and the arm A will move the arm pistons, while the central circular portions A downwardly over the center. Thus, the of said bearing members will turn at the operation of the mechanism is balanced at ends 46 and 46 of the crank arms. 50 all times andthemovement. of. two pistons The ends of the rock shaft are proin opposite directions will eifect one-half vided with arms A and said arms are ofa revolution of the crank arm A, while pivotally connected at with one end oi a the reverse movement of the said pistons connecting rod 51, said connecting rod being will complete a revolution of the arm A pivotally attached at 52 to a crank arm A 55 shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9, it will be obpower ,shaft S extending longitudinally served that the cylinders C, C, C, (l are between the cylinders and in parallelism vertically disposed and arranged in pairs at with the rock shaft 40. Said shaft may right angles to the plane of a central rock be provided with suitable bearings mount shaft 40. Each of the cylinders has the between the cylinders, and it will be ap- 125 circular inner walls 1 and the outer water parent that the rotation of the power shaft jacket walls 2, the water jacket of cylinis accomplished through the oscillation of ders C and C being common to both cylinthe rock shaft 40 in "the same manner as the ders, and likewise the jacket of cylinders horizontal type engine, which I- have pre- C and C being common to both cylinders. viously described. 3 The bottoms. of all of the cylinders are A cam shaft S is mounted on brackets In the. Vertical type engine such as is on the extended ends of a centrally mounted 53,53 at the. ends of the cylinderblocks, and substantially above the power shaft S and parallel therewith. Said cam shaft is operably connected with the power shaft S by means of a driving gear 54 and a driven gear 55, and serves to operate both the exhaust and intake valves through the medium of rocker arms 56, 56, etc., mounted on rock shafts 57, 57, respectively. Said rocker arm shafts are carried at brackets 58. 58, mounted on the cylinder head.

It will be understood, of course, that the cam shaft S is provided with a cam for each of the rocker arms 56 and each of the intake and exhaust valves V is associatcd with 'one'of said rocker arms and is provided with springs 28 for restoring said valves to closed position. Intake manifolds M, M are provided for connection with the outer sides of the heads H and the exhaust manifolds M may be connected with exhaust outlets E, E, on the. sides of the cylinders, asv shown.

It will be understood that I have not attempted to show allof the details of an internal combustion engine which are not pertinent to my invention, but have shown only a suflicient structure to illustrate the use and operation of the several improvements of my invention.

It will be noted that an engine constructed I substantially in accordance with the drawings forming a part of my application, will eliminate in the case of a double acting engine the use of stuffing boxes and cross heads, and thus simplify the design and facilitate the assembling and disassembly of the several parts; also the excessive wear is eliminated and the number of wearing parts are reduced to a minimum. The engine as designed, is readily accessible for repairs and inspection, and the wearing parts may be replaced with facility and dispatch. The compound movement which I have provided for connecting the power shaft with the reciprocating pistons is of such character that vibration will be minimized; and a smooth running engine provided.

It will also be-understood that as shown in the drawings, my improved principle may be embodied in either a double acting or single acting engine, of either horizontal or vertical type, and that several units of from four to 16 cylinders each may be connected with a common power shaft.

Attention is also called to the fact that it is necessary to employ only one connecting rod between the rock shaft and power shaft for each unit of four cylinders, while the operation of an eight cylinder unit will require only two connecting rods, three connecting rods are necessary for a unit of twelvecylinders, and four of such rods for an engine of sixteen cylinders; In each case the connecting rods are connected with a straight power shaft having no bends or throws as in the usual bustion engines.

The compression ratio of the engine may be changed by varying the relative lengths of the crank arms attached to the power shafts and rock shafts.

Furthermore, I may arrange the cylinders at various angles as in. other V-type engines, if desirable, without departing from the principle shown and described, and the proper timing of the power impulses remains the same whether the cylinders are placed horiontally, vertically, or at whatever angle may be desired.

Vhat I claim is:

1. An internal combustion engine including a cylinder, a piston reciprocably held in said cylinder, a shaft transverselydisposed relative to the cylinder, a rocker arm on said shaft, said piston having a diametrically disposed opening extending therethrough and transversely disposed grooves formed on the opposite sides of said opening, the free end of said rocker arm being adapted to seat in said opening, held in said arm and having tongues engaging said grooves whereby said bearing member will be reciprocated as said piston is reciprocated in the cylinder to permit the oscillation of said arm.

2. An internal combustion engine including a cylinder, a piston reciprocably held in said cylinder, a shaft transversely disposed relative to the cylinder, a rocker arm on said shaft, said piston having a diametrically disposed opening extending therethrough and transversely disposed grooves formed on the opposite sides of said openmg, the free end of said rocker arm being adapted to seat in said opening. a bearing member held in said arm and having tongues engaging said grooves whereby said bearing member will be recip-rocated as said piston is reciprocated in the cylinder, and a power shaft paralleling said rocker arm shaft and operatively connected therewith for rotation, due to the successive power impulses imparted to said piston.

3. An internal combustion engine including a pair of spaced parallel cylinders, pistons reciprocably mounted therein and types of internal comand a bearing member adapted to recelve power impulses at the opposite ends thereof, a rocker shaft horizontally disposed between said cylinders. a rocker arm fixed to said shaft and having the ends thereof extended into diametrically formed openings in said pistons, transverse grooves being formed inthe opposite sides of the openings in the pistons, and bearing members pivota-lly carried in the end of said rocker arms and having tongues engaging said grooves, as described 4. An internal combustion engine including a pair of spaced parallel cylinders, pissides of the openings in the pistons, bearingmembers carried inthe ends of said rocker arms and having tongues engaging said grooves, and a power shaft operably connected with-said rock shaft.

5. An internal combustion 'engineincluding a pair of spaced parallel cylinders, pistons reciprocably mounted therein and adapted to receive power impulses at the opposite ends thereof, a rocker shaft horizontally disposed between said cylinders, a rocker arm fixed to said shaft and having the ends thereof extended into diametrically formed openings in said pistons, transverse grooves being formed in the opposite sides of the openings in the pistons, bearing'members carried in the ends of said rocker arms and having tongues engaging said grooves, and apower shaft 0 rab y connected with said rock shaft, sai connection including a rotatable crank arm fixed to said power shaft, and an oscillatable crank arm fixed to said shaft, and a connecting rod connecting said crank arm and said oscillatable arm.

6, An internal combustion en 'ne including a pair of spaced parallel cy%i nders,.piS- tons reciprocably mounted therein and adapted to receive power impulses at the opposite ends thereof, a rocker shaft horizontally disposed between said cylinders, a rocker arm'fixed to said shaft and having the ends thereof" extending into diametri cally formed openings in said iston trans verse grooves being formed in the opposite sides of the openings in the pistons, bearing members carried in the end of said rocker arms and having tongues engaging said groovs, and a power shaft operably connected with said rock shaft, said connection including a rotatable crank arm fixed to said power shaft, an oscillatable crank arm fixed to said shaft, and a connecting rod connecting said crank arm and said Oscillatable arm, an means for impart ng power impulses tothe opposite ends of the pistons in eac of said cylinders at timed intervals.

7. internal ombustion eng e in lud ing a cy inder, block having a pl a ity of arallel cylinders spaced apart, a rock shaft ou naledin said block between and d lposed. at right angles to the axis of said cylin ers, a rocker arm fixed, to said rook shaft, a ist n reciprocally mounted in each of sai cylinders and having diametricallyformed and longitudinally' disposed openings there in for receiving the opposite ends of said Y rocker arm, transverse grooves being formed in the opposite sides of said opening, bearmg mem ers carried in the ends of said rocker arm and having tongues engaging said grooves, whereby at each movement of I said pistons said bearing members will be oscillated in said arm and said rock shaft oscillated corresponding to the movement of said pistons.

8. An internal combustion engine including a cylinder, block having a plurality of parallel cylinders spaced apart, a rock shaft 1ournaled in said block between and disposed at ri ht angles to the axis of said cylinders,

a. mo er arm fixed to said rock shaft, a pis- 1 ton reciprocally mounted in each of said cylinders and having diametrically formed openin s therein for receiving the opposite ends 0 said rocker arm, transverse grooves being formed in the opposite sides of said opemn bearing members carried in the ends 0 said rocker arm and having tongues engaging said grooves whereby at each movement of said pistons said bearin members will be oscillated in said arm an [said rock shaft oscillated corresponding to the movement of said pistons, and a power shaft operably connected with said rock shaft. 9. An internal combustion engine including a cylinder block having a plurality of arallel cylinders spaced apart, a rock shaft ournaled in said block between and disposed at right angles to the axis of said cylinders, a rocker arm fixed to said rock s aft, a piston reciprocably mounted in each of said cylinders and having diametrically formed openings therein for receiving the opposite ends of said rocker arm, trans verse grooves being formed in the opposite sidesof said openin ,bearingmembcrS car, ried 1n the ends o Sflld lOCkGI arm and at right angles to t ,e axis of said cylinder,

a piston reciprocably held in said cylinder, a rocker arm fixed to said shaft and having a e ring member in. the end thereof slid ably connected with said pistonso. that when the iston mov s in a ongi udinal path.

said .aring member w l m e t ansversely of the piston.

11. An internal combustion motor including a cylinder block having a cylinder there in, a, rock shaft disposed at one side of and at right angles to the axis ofsaid cylinder, a piston reciprocably held in said cylinder,

the os illation of the a rocker arm fixed to said shaft and having a bearing member pivotally held in the end thereof and slidably connected with said piston so that when the a longitudinal path, said aring member will move transversely of the piston, and a power shaft operably connected with said rock shaft.

12. An internal combustion motor including a cylinder block having a cylinder therein, a rock shaft disposed at one side of and at right angles to the axis of said cylinder, a piston reciprocably held in said cylinder, a rocker arm fixed to said shaft iston moves in and having a bearing member pivotally held in the end thereof and slidably connected with said piston so thatwhen the a connecting rod operably connecting said crank arms, whereby the oscillation of said rock shaft will effect the rotation of said power shaft.

DAYTON H. HORNOR. 

